My Life in Tokyo

Today I planned to meet my friend Heather to go to a Japanese crafts store in a neighborhood that was unfamiliar to both of us. We agreed to meet at the subway station, but didn’t know exactly where to find each other since we didn’t know the layout of the station. Heather found the name of one exit and suggested we meet there.

When I got to the station, I went to the exit where I thought we were supposed to meet (though I wasn’t entirely sure since the names didn’t match exactly). I went up both escalators and out onto the street, but I didn’t see here there. I looked around a bit, checked my watch, and read the name of the exit again. Then I decided to call her on her cell phone. I listened to the voicemail greeting in Japanese, caught the words “name” and “phone number”, hoped I had the right number, and left a message. Just as I was finishing up, a 50-ish Japanese businessman came up to me and started speaking in Japanese. I couldn’t understand most of what he said, but I caught the words “gaijin-san” as he pointed towards the entrance to the station and indicated the other direction. Clearly, he had seen another gaijin (foreigner) wandering around looking for someone. And obviously, we had to be looking for each other. I walked back down the stairs and there she was.

It’s quite an experience to be living in a city of 26 million people and yet to never be anonymous.